Meeting fails to put a DoT to CDMA-GSM spectrum row

The much-awaited meeting between the Department of Telecommunications and the warring CDMA and GSM mobile operators...

The much-awaited meeting between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the warring CDMA and GSM mobile operators failed to reach any consensus on the controversial spectrum issue. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Idea, Spice, HFCL Aircel, Tata Teleservices and Shyam were among other operators who attended the meeting.

After a two-hour meeting between telecom secretary D S Mathur and mobile operators, the telecom commission decided to have one-to-one meeting with all the operators.

According to sources, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani raised the issue of extra spectrum being held by GSM operators. He also questioned how over 6.2 MHz of radio waves is allotted to GSM players beyond their contractual agreement.

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Some of the operators also demanded that letter of intent (LoI) for new telephony licences should be issued immediately as in the last two years the Government has granted over 50 permissions or LoIs under the same policy. The telecom secretary lent a patient hearing to all the operators and asked them to resolve the issues amicably.

Mathur also requested GSM operators to withdraw their petition from TDSAT. Cellular Operators Association of India has challenged government’s new norms including enhanced subscriber base and allowing of dual technology by a single operator under the same licence.

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